Long-haul trucks, trucks that travel more than 500 miles per day, frequently run their engines during driver rest periods, often due to the need for cab climate conditioning. This practice is commonly referred to as idling the engine. In the United States alone, long-haul trucks consume approximately 667 million gallons of fuel annually by idling during rest periods. The inclusion of workday idling increases the usage rate to more than two billion gallons of fuel annually. As awareness of the amount of fuel consumed during periods of idling has increased, federal regulations and incentives have been created. For example, idle reduction technology credits were introduced to the Heavy-Duty Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards in 2014. Increased awareness has also spurred implementation of stringent state and city anti-idling regulations.
The reduction of the thermal loads associated with idling may provide significant opportunities to reduce fuel usage and the resultant emission of pollutants, including green-house gases. Enhancing the thermal performance of cabs (including cabs with sleeper compartments) may enable smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective solutions that minimize the negative effects of engine idling. In addition, fuel savings from new technologies may provide sufficiently short payback periods that fleet owners may be economically motivated to incorporate these new technologies into their vehicles. Therefore, the potentially significant financial savings offered by newly developed technologies, technologies that minimize engine idling and the effects of engine idling, may enable the quick acceptance and implementation of these technologies into the transportation industry. Thus, there remains a need for improved systems, devices, and methods that provide energy improvement solutions for long-haul trucks, as well as other vehicles and/or compartments.